Friends Of The Mets May Be Coming To The Rescue

Against all odds, a group of investors has expressed interest in buying a 25 percent, non-controlling stake in the New York Mets.

Who would do such a thing? Well, the lead investor is James McCann, the founder and chairman of 1-800-Flowers.com — a company that happens to be a major sponsor of the New York Mets.

Oh, and McCann's own spokesman describes him as "a very close friend of Fred and Jeff Wilpon."

According to New York Times, a group led by McCann has asked Major League Baseball for permission to see the books, the first step in a possible "friendly" investment in the club. Experts have long considered it unlikely that any rational investor would buy such a large stake in the team, while the Wilpons continued to insist that they would not give up control. But apparently, they just needed to ask the right friend.

The Mets and 1-800-Flowers.com have something else in common: The bulb company lost $4.2M last year.